The tradition of including baseball cards with gum is an iconic part of the sport’s history that dates back over 100 years. In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like American Tobacco Company began inserting non-sports related promotional cards into their cigarette and tobacco products. This helped boost sales and was an innovative form of advertising at the time.
In 1886, the American Tobacco Company began the practice of including premium cards in their products featuring famous actresses, royalty, and historic figures. These early premium cards proved very popular with consumers. Seeing the success, in the early 1900s several tobacco companies began experimenting with including sports-related cards in their products. In 1909, the American Tobacco Company issued the T206 baseball card set, widely considered to be one of the most valuable sets of all time. These early tobacco-inserted baseball cards helped boost the sport’s popularity across America.
It was not until the 1920s when the modern tradition of including baseball cards with chewing gum began. In 1923, the Franklin Mint issued a series of cards called Goudey Baseball Cards that were included as premiums in packs of gum. This helped popularize the idea of combining baseball cards with chewing gum. The following year in 1924, the Goudey company issued their landmark second series which included legends like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. These early Goudey sets helped establish the model of packaging cards with chewing gum that remains standard in the industry today.
In the late 1920s, the emerging baseball card industry was dominated by three main companies – Goudey, American Caramel, and Play Ball. Each included their card sets sealed inside small wax-paper envelopes along with sticks of chewing gum. This helped make the experience of collecting cards interactive, fun, and offered a tasty reward for kids. The Great Depression took a major toll on the baseball card industry in the early 1930s, but companies like Goudey soldiered on by including even more gum with their diminished card offerings.
The tradition of including baseball cards with gum fully took hold in the post-World War 2 era. In 1948, the Bowman Gum Company issued highly coveted sets that included the likes of Jackie Robinson and Stan Musial which helped popularize the modern 5-card wax pack format. Other major companies like Topps, Fleer and Leaf also entered the booming baseball card industry. In the 1950s, these companies issued some of the most iconic and valuable sets in the history of the hobby like Topps’ 1952, 1953, and 1957 issues. The inclusion of stick of chewing gum with each 5-card wax pack helped make collecting cards an affordable and fun pastime for millions of American children.
The tradition continued strongly through the 1960s, 70s and 80s as companies like Topps and Fleer battled for licensing deals with MLB teams and players unions. Each issued innovative sets on an annual basis that included the sports’ biggest stars and helped shape baseball card culture. The inclusion of a stick of gum with each pack remained standard practice. In fact, during the 1970s, Topps experimented with including larger, more novelty gum products like Big League Chew to add more value and appeal to their wax packs.
In the 1990s the tradition began to change. The ballooning costs of licensing deals and player contracts forced companies to seek alternative pack-in premiums to offset rising baseball card prices. Topps was the first to drop gum in 1992, instead including collectible stickers in packs. Other companies soon followed suit by including items like trading cards for other sports, puzzles, or temporary tattoos instead of gum. This helped keep card prices affordable but also marked a shift away from the iconic baseball-gum connection that had defined the hobby for 70+ years.
Today, while some smaller repack companies still include gum, the three major baseball card manufacturers – Topps, Panini, and Leaf – have all abandoned the practice for decades now. The nostalgic connection between baseball cards and chewing gum remains an indelible part of the hobby’s history. Even without gum, the experience of opening wax packs in search of your favorite players still evokes the same excitement many felt as kids in the golden era when cards were packaged alongside sticks of bubblegum. The tradition helped make baseball cards accessible to generations, fueling their love of the game and its stars. So while gum may be gone, its impact on the culture and memories of baseball cards will endure forever.
